


Burn

by the_tired_fangirl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Study, F/F, Fire, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Minister of Magic!Hermione, Paris (City), Post-Canon, Post-Hogwarts, Pyromania, Pyromaniac!Pansy, Reporter!Pansy, kind of, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:35:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25192498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_tired_fangirl/pseuds/the_tired_fangirl
Summary: Pansy, Hermione, and what happens when they meet at a bar in Paris. Told in 3 parts.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 63





	Burn

1\. Pansy

Pansy Parkinson liked to burn things. She blamed it on her parents, for giving her an antique lighter from her great grandmother. They knew that Pansy liked nice things, but what they didn’t know was that they liked to burn them too. 

It started small, with pieces of parchment passed under candle flames at night while all her roommates were asleep. It stayed that way, with her burning small objects, until the night of her wedding.

Contrary to what most people thought, Pansy wasn’t in love with Draco Malfoy. Not at all. But her parents expected her to marry him to uphold the pureblood tradition. So she put her red lipstick on and started seducing Draco Malfoy. Over the years that they became friends, she realized that he wasn’t as bad as she was expecting. She could let her guard down around him. She wasn’t gonna go proclaiming her love for him anytime soon, but he was a great deal better than whatever other pureblood bachelors her parents were planning on marrying her off to.

So when Draco Malfoy left her at the altar, declaring that he was in love with another person, she broke down. She requested to be alone that night, sitting in her parent’s estate, the only light to see by coming from the grand fire in the fireplace. She stripped off her wedding dress, leaving her in black lingerie. And she burned it. The lace hissed as it burned, and for the first time that night, Pansy Parkinson smiled. 

The rest of the things Draco gave her were next. Then her parent’s heirlooms. She got rid of anything that held her to a debt, taking great pleasure in watching it all go up in flames. She cursed Draco for leaving her in this position with her parents, she cursed her parents for not hesitating to marry her off to a bachelor to uphold their standing. Like they had any standing left. 

In her anger, she tore through her father’s office, returning with the documents that protected their estate, their businesses, and all of their wealth. She held them over her great grandmother’s lighter until her father agreed to sign everything over to her. 

She left Britain soon after. The estate was haunted by the ghosts of the war, and people glared at her when she passed them on the streets. With her new fortune, she booked a one-way ticket to Paris.

A small reporting agency offered her a job, and she quickly rose to the role of star reporter. She found out stories no one else knew, mostly because of her penchant of threatening people with fire until they spilled their guts to her. But even without the threatening, she was a good reporter, even if she wrote under a pseudonym. 

She had a good life, and no one in Paris knew who she was or what she had done. 

Pansy Parkinson had burned every aspect of her past life in an effort to prevent it from following her here. 

So when she stumbled into Hermione Granger at a bar one night, she realized she hadn’t been completely successful in keeping her past away. 

2\. Hermione

Hermione Granger was ruthless. If you asked anyone to describe her, however, they would say things like brave, smart, and kind. She got told these things for so long that she started to think them too. She started to think that all people say of her was the golden girl who helped save them and was destined to marry Ronald Weasley and have loads of kids with ginger hair.

It wasn’t until her wedding night that she realized this wasn’t who she was. She may have been brave and smart and kind, but she was also ruthless. She had locked a woman in a jar when she hurt her friends, she broke into the ministry, and on top of all that she had broken numerous school rules while at Hogwarts.

Walking down the aisle, she realized that she was the one they entrusted with the power to turn back time, and it was never in her plans to settle down, to compromise herself for someone else. She was powerful, and she would never give up that power for someone who had never treated her well. 

So she left Ron at the altar and bought herself a flat all by herself. She got a job at the ministry and once she realized that her small job filing paperwork wasn’t going to change anything, she got started on working her way up the ranks. She did what she needed to succeed, whether it was blackmailing her supervisor or brewing an illegal potion to help her get a job interview. 

Her years of hard work paid off with her becoming the youngest minister of magic ever. From there, she could start dismantling the oppressive systems in the ministry and making life better for magical creatures and magic users alike. 

She was in Paris for a meeting with the French minister of magic when the news broke that Ronald Weasley was now engaged to Lavender Brown.

While Hermione may be ruthless, she still has emotions, and that’s how she found herself sitting at a bar in Paris next to Pansy Parkinson of all people.

3\. Pansy and Hermione

“Parkinson,” Hermione said, acknowledging the woman sitting next to her. 

“Granger.”

“What are you doing in Paris?”

“I live here. And besides, I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

“It isn’t. God forbid I try to have a friendly conversation.”

“Fine. Why are you here?”

“I’m meeting with the French minister to-”

“No. Why are you here?” Pansy asked, emphasizing the last word and gesturing around her. “Why is the great Hermione Granger drinking alone on a Tuesday?”

“I guess you haven’t seen the news then.”

“Oh, the stuff about Weasley? Someone at my office turned in an article about it before I clocked out today.”

“Your office?”

“I’m working in Paris as a reporter.”

“Oh.”

The two women sat in silence for a moment, sipping at their drinks, before Pansy broke the silence.

“So, what happened between you and Weasley anyway?”

“I left him at the altar.”

“Looks like we have more in common than I thought, Granger.”

“Who did you leave at the altar?” 

“I didn’t leave anyone, but I did get left by someone.”

“Who?” Hermione asked, leaning closer into Pansy to hear her answer. While looking at her, she noticed how nicely her dark hair framed her face and how her red lipstick contrasted against her skin. She also noticed how her fingers clenched around her glass as she gave her answer. 

“Draco.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was exactly what I needed to start over.”

“Got rid of your old life?”

“Yep. Burned my wedding dress.”

“I sold mine to a collector.”

Pansy laughed. “Damn. That’s cold, Hermione Granger.”

“What? I needed the money to move out!” Hermione replied, joining in and laughing too. There was something about Pansy that made her feel like she’d known her forever. 

“So did I.” Pansy agreed, taking another sip of her drink.

“What did you do?”

“Threatened my parents until they signed everything they owned over to me.”

“And you say I’m cold.”

There was another beat of silence in the conversation.

“We’re kind of messed up, huh?” Hermione said, breaking the silence. 

“You could say that.” Pansy finally looked up to see the woman she was talking to and was met with Hermione’s eyes. The shoddy lighting from the bar highlighted an almost halo around her, and her bushy curls framed her face well. Pansy hadn’t been this taken aback by someone since she was a teenager. “Say, you don’t want to spend the night alone while your ex is getting engaged, do you?”

“Are you propositioning me, Pansy?” Hermione asked with a smirk that rivaled Pansy’s own. Pansy’s breath caught at the way her name sounded rolling off Hermione’s tongue, and she realized that Hermione wasn’t the bossy know-it-all she knew from school anymore. No, Hermione was a wildfire. 

And Pansy liked to watch things burn.

“The real question is, would you be willing to accept a proposition from me?” Pansy asked. She was ruthless, Hermione thought. Just like her. Ron was always too soft, he didn’t care to study or to work hard for the future he wanted. But Pansy, Pansy was willing to do whatever it took, just like Hermione. 

So Hermione gave her only a short smile before grabbing the collar of her shirt and crashing their lips together. 

And before they knew it, Pansy was dragging Hermione out of the bar and onto the streets of Paris.


End file.
